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In the story of the rich man and Lazarus given in Luke 16:19-31 - today's Gospel reading for Daily Mass - the last verse spoke to me profoundly but not in a way that I can easily articulate:Ait autem illi, "Si Mosen et prophetas non audiunt neque si quis ex mortuis resurrexerit credent."And he said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone rises from the dead."Like most of you, I have heard sermons on this verse since childhood. Nevertheless, I couldn't stop thinking about this statement. The word credent is the future active third person plural of the verb credo meaning:"trust, entrust; commit/consign; believe, trust in, rely on, confide." We have Sacred Scripture, 2000 years of Sacred Tradition, and the teaching of the Magisterium. That is far more than what the people of Jesus' day had. If we won't hear those witnesses, then even a miracle like a resurrection from the dead won't result in trust and belief. In our skeptical scientism, we would find a reason to reject the miracle. We see this today. The evidence of the Big Bang some 13.73 billion years ago is incontrovertible confirmation of Genesis 1:3:Dixitque Deus, "Fiat lux," et facta est lux.And God said, "Let light become," and light has become.Yet to avoid the necessity of a Creator, today's disbelievers posit multiverses and all other kinds of non-provable constructs. That actually is no different than the time of Jesus when He performed miracles right in front of the Scribes and Pharisees and they would not believe, even when He had risen from the dead. Mark 16:16 is clear:Qui crediderit et baptizatus fuerit salvus erit, qui vero non crediderit condemnabitur.Who has believed (trusted) and been baptized will be saved, who verily has not believed (trusted) will be condemned.